Automobile transaction facilitation using a manufacturer response

ABSTRACT

A system, methods, and apparatus for performing automobile transactions are disclosed. In an example embodiment, automobile market data representative of current automobile market characteristics is stored. The automobile market data may include pricing, inventory, and consumer interest information received from manufacturers, dealers, and consumers. A consumer may provide a request for a manufacturer response indicating whether a specific automobile can be provided. Automobile market data may be provided to a manufacturer based on the request and a manufacturer response provides a verification, confirmation, or offer indicating that the specific automobile can be provided for the consumer. Bids to sell the specific automobile may be requested from dealers based on the manufacturer response. Dealer bids may be provided to the consumer with prices and a delivery options. The consumer may select a bid which specifies a pickup location at a first dealer.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/176,497, filed Jul. 5, 2011, which is related to the commonly-ownedpatent application filed on Jul. 5, 2011, entitled “AUTOMOBILETRANSACTION FACILITATION BASED ON CUSTOMER SELECTION OF A SPECIFICAUTOMOBILE,” U.S. application Ser. No. 13/176,525, now U.S. Pat. No.8,744,925, the entire content of each of which is hereby incorporated byreference herein.

BACKGROUND

In the automobile industry, consumers typically purchase automobilesfrom dealers or dealerships. Dealers often purchase new automobiles fromseveral manufacturers, to sell to consumers. Consumers typicallynegotiate a lower price than the manufacturer suggested retail pricetypically referred to as the “sticker price” and/or the price the dealerinitially offers. In many cases, the negotiation process for anautomobile may include a large degree of uncertainty for the consumer.Generally, the negotiation process is a zero sum process, and becausethe consumer and the dealer are each trying to get a better deal, thereis typically some lack of trust during the negotiation. Accordingly,both dealers and consumers often base the negotiations on establishedmarket prices. However, market prices can fluctuate rapidly depending avariety of factors. For example, consumer demand may be affected byeconomic factors, such as changes in gasoline prices, unemploymentrates, government sponsored tax rebates for automobile purchases, etc.

In many cases, a consumer may have concerns that a dealer may not offera fair and competitive price. Various products and services have becomeavailable that allow consumers to perform research on market prices forautomobiles. Similarly, dealers negotiating an automobile sale generallydo not know the maximum price a consumer will be willing to pay for aparticular automobile, or how long it will take to sell an automobile ininventory for a given price. Accordingly, dealers also use products andservices for determining and/or tracking market prices. Further,automobile manufacturers may also have an interest in the market pricesfor automobiles, because the market activity captured as automobilemarket information may allow the manufacturer to, for example, moreprofitably determine which automobiles to manufacture, what prices themanufacture should offer to dealers, and whether manufacturer incentivesshould be offered on existing dealer automobile inventory.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a new and innovative system, methods andapparatus for providing automobile market information and performingautomobile transactions. In an example embodiment, automobile marketdata representative of recent automobile market characteristics isstored. The automobile market data may include pricing, inventory, andconsumer interest information received from manufacturers, dealers, andconsumers. A consumer may provide a request for a manufacturer responseindicating whether a specific automobile can be provided. Automobilemarket data may be provided to a manufacturer based on the request and amanufacturer response may provide a verification, confirmation, or offerindicating that the specific automobile can be provided for theconsumer. Bids to sell the specific automobile may be requested fromdealers based on the manufacturer response. Dealer bids may be providedto the consumer with prices and a delivery options. The consumer mayselect a bid which specifies a pickup location at a particular dealer.

Additional features and advantages of the disclosed method and apparatusare described in, and will be apparent from, the following DetailedDescription and the Figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a high level block diagram of an example network communicatingsystem, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram showing an example of a computingdevice, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example automobile transactionnetwork structure, according to an example embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIGS. 4A and 4B include a flowchart illustrating an example process forfacilitating an automobile transaction, according to an exampleembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example data architecture,according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is flow diagram illustrating an example process for facilitatingan automobile transaction, according to an example embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure relates in general to a system for facilitatingautomobile transactions and, in particular, to automobile transactionfacilitation using a manufacturer response. Briefly, in an exampleembodiment, a system is provided which allows a consumer to request averification that a specific car can be obtained. For example, aconsumer may use a mobile device to take a picture of a vehicleidentification number and using optical character recognition, requestreal-time information on that automobile. For example, a manufacturercan provide a verification to the consumer and dealers that theautomobile can be provided, along with specific logistics for delivery.Dealers may provide bids based on the consumer request and themanufacturer verification, including intrabrand bids and interbrandbids. A consumer may select a dealer bid to purchase or lease anautomobile based on the prices and delivery options available. Also, thepresently disclosed system may advantageously allow for inventorylessbidding by dealers. For example, a dealer does not need to have anautomobile in its inventory (e.g., on the dealer lot), but can make abid to sell that automobile anyways, and then have that automobileproduced by a manufacturer or transported to the dealer lot. In anon-limiting example embodiment, certain features disclosed in thepresent patent application may be commercially embodied in products andservices offered by Sidekick Technology LLC, the assignee of the presentapplication.

The present system may be readily realized in a network communicationssystem. A high level block diagram of an example network communicationssystem 100 is illustrated in FIG. 1. The illustrated system 100 includesone or more client devices 102, and one or more host devices 104. Thesystem 100 may include a variety of client devices 102, such as desktopcomputers and the like, which typically include a display 112, which isa user display for providing information to users 114, and variousinterface elements as will be discussed in further detail below. Aclient device 102 may be a mobile device 103, which may be a cellularphone, a personal digital assistant, a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, etc. The client devices 102 may communicate with the hostdevice 104 via a connection to one or more communications channels 106such as the Internet or some other data network, including, but notlimited to, any suitable wide area network or local area network. Itshould be appreciated that any of the devices described herein may bedirectly connected to each other instead of over a network. Typically,one or more servers 108 may be part of the network communications system100, and may communicate with host servers 104 and client devices 102.

One host device 104 may interact with a large number of users 114 at aplurality of different client devices 102. Accordingly, each host device104 is typically a high end computer with a large storage capacity, oneor more fast microprocessors, and one or more high speed networkconnections. Conversely, relative to a typical host device 104, eachclient device 102 typically includes less storage capacity, a singlemicroprocessor, and a single network connection. It should beappreciated that a user 114 as described herein may include any personor entity which uses the presently disclosed system and may include awide variety of parties. For example, as will be discussed in furtherdetail below, users 114 of the presently disclosed system may include aconsumer, a dealer, and/or a manufacturer.

Typically, host devices 104 and servers 108 store one or more of aplurality of files, programs, databases, and/or web pages in one or morememories for use by the client devices 102, and/or other host devices104 or servers 108. A host device 104 or server 108 may be configuredaccording to its particular operating system, applications, memory,hardware, etc., and may provide various options for managing theexecution of the programs and applications, as well as variousadministrative tasks. A host device 104 or server may interact via oneor more networks with one or more other host devices 104 or servers 108,which may be operated independently. For example, host devices 104 andservers 108 operated by a separate and distinct entities may interacttogether according to some agreed upon protocol.

A detailed block diagram of the electrical systems of an examplecomputing device (e.g., a client device 102, and a host device 104) isillustrated in FIG. 2. In this example, the computing device 102, 104includes a main unit 202 which preferably includes one or moreprocessors 204 electrically coupled by an address/data bus 206 to one ormore memory devices 208, other computer circuitry 210, and one or moreinterface circuits 212. The processor 204 may be any suitable processor,such as a microprocessor from the INTEL PENTIUM® family ofmicroprocessors. The memory 208 preferably includes volatile memory andnon-volatile memory. Preferably, the memory 208 stores a softwareprogram that interacts with the other devices in the system 100 asdescribed below. This program may be executed by the processor 204 inany suitable manner. In an example embodiment, memory 208 may be part ofa “cloud” such that cloud computing may be utilized by a computingdevices 102, 104. The memory 208 may also store digital data indicativeof documents, files, programs, web pages, etc. retrieved from acomputing device 102, 104 and/or loaded via an input device 214.

The interface circuit 212 may be implemented using any suitableinterface standard, such as an Ethernet interface and/or a UniversalSerial Bus (USB) interface. One or more input devices 214 may beconnected to the interface circuit 212 for entering data and commandsinto the main unit 202. For example, the input device 214 may be akeyboard, mouse, touch screen, track pad, track ball, isopoint, imagesensor, character recognition, barcode scanner, and/or a voicerecognition system.

One or more displays 112, printers, speakers, and/or other outputdevices 216 may also be connected to the main unit 202 via the interfacecircuit 212. The display 112 may be a cathode ray tube (CRTs), a liquidcrystal display (LCD), or any other type of display. The display 112generates visual displays generated during operation of the computingdevice 102, 104. For example, the display 112 may provide a userinterface, which will be described in further detail below, and maydisplay one or more web pages received from a computing device 102, 104.A user interface may include prompts for human input from a user 114including links, buttons, tabs, checkboxes, thumbnails, text fields,drop down boxes, etc., and may provide various outputs in response tothe user inputs, such as text, still images, videos, audio, andanimations.

One or more storage devices 218 may also be connected to the main unit202 via the interface circuit 212. For example, a hard drive, CD drive,DVD drive, and/or other storage devices may be connected to the mainunit 202. The storage devices 218 may store any type of data, such aspricing data, transaction data, operations data, inventory data,commission data, manufacturing data, image data, video data, audio data,tagging data, historical access or usage data, statistical data,security data, etc., which may be used by the computing device 102, 104.

The computing device 102, 104 may also exchange data with other networkdevices 220 via a connection to the network 106. Network devices 220 mayinclude one or more servers 226, which may be used to store certaintypes of data, and particularly large volumes of data which may bestored in one or more data repository 222. A server 226 may include anykind of data 224 including databases, programs, files, libraries,pricing data, transaction data, operations data, inventory data,commission data, manufacturing data, configuration data, index ortagging data, historical access or usage data, statistical data,security data, etc. A server 226 may store and operate variousapplications relating to receiving, transmitting, processing, andstoring the large volumes of data. It should be appreciated that variousconfigurations of one or more servers 226 may be used to support andmaintain the system 100. For example, servers 226 may be operated byvarious different entities, including automobile manufacturers,brokerage services, automobile information services, etc. Also, certaindata may be stored in a client device 102 which is also stored on theserver 226, either temporarily or permanently, for example in memory 208or storage device 218. The network connection may be any type of networkconnection, such as an Ethernet connection, digital subscriber line(DSL), telephone line, coaxial cable, wireless connection, etc.

Access to a computing device 102, 104 can be controlled by appropriatesecurity software or security measures. An individual users' 114 accesscan be defined by the computing device 102, 104 and limited to certaindata and/or actions. Accordingly, users 114 of the system 100 may berequired to register with one or more computing devices 102, 104. Forexample, registered users 114 may be able to request or manipulate data,such as submitting requests for pricing information or providing anoffer or a bid.

As noted previously, various options for managing data located withinthe computing device 102, 104 and/or in a server 226 may be implemented.A management system may manage security of data and accomplish varioustasks such as facilitating a data backup process. A management systemmay be implemented in a client 102, a host device 104, and a server 226.The management system may update, store, and back up data locally and/orremotely. A management system may remotely store data using any suitablemethod of data transmission, such as via the Internet and/or othernetworks 106.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example automobile transactionnetwork structure 300 which includes an automobile market informationprocessing system 302, a consumer interface 304, a dealer interface 306,and a manufacturer interface 308. The example automobile marketinformation processing system 302 may be implemented on one or more hostdevices 104 accessing one or more servers 108, 226. In an exampleembodiment, the automobile market information processing system 302includes a database system 310, a recommendation engine 312, a vehicleidentification number processor 314, and an interface generation unit316. A user 114 may be a consumer, a dealer, or a manufacturer thatinteracts with the consumer interface 304, dealer interface 306, ormanufacturer interface 308, respectively. A database system 310 mayinclude a wide variety of automobile market data. A recommendationengine 312 may provide recommendations for consumers, dealers, andmanufacturers. A vehicle identification number processor 314 may be usedfor making requests regarding specific automobiles and automobiles withspecific sets of features. For example, a vehicle identification numberprocessor 314 may determine a specific set of features that a specificcar has based on a picture of that specific car's vehicle identificationnumber. Interface generation unit 316 may provide, for example, HTMLfiles which are used at the consumer interface 304, dealer interface306, and manufacturer interface 308 interface to provide information tothe users 114. It should be appreciated that he the consumer interface304, dealer interface 306, and manufacturer interface 308 may beconsidered to be part of the automobile market information processingsystem 302, however, for discussion purposes, the consumer interface304, dealer interface 306, and manufacturer interface 308 may bereferred to as separate from the automobile market informationprocessing system 302.

For example, a user 114 may interact with a consumer interface 304 toresearch automobiles the user 114 is interested in buying. For example,a consumer may be looking for a four door sedan with specific features,including a global positioning system (GPS), a sunroof, tinted windows,rated for at least thirty miles per gallon, four wheel drive, etc. Theconsumer may interact with the consumer interface 304 by inputtingrequired and/or desired features, monthly budget or full price, etc. Theconsumer interface 304 may provide a wide variety of features andspecifications which the consumer may choose from in providing arequest. Based on the information put into the consumer interface 304from the consumer, the consumer interface 304 may provide one or morereports or offers to the consumer. As will be discussed in furtherdetail below, the information provided by the consumer interface 304 mayinclude current market prices for automobiles, including informationrelating to additional features, and may include information on specificautomobiles, for example, which may be en route to a dealer near theconsumer's present location. The automobile market informationprocessing system 302 may process data received by the consumerinterface 304, as well as the dealer interface 306 and/or themanufacturer interface 308, to respond to a request from a consumer. Forexample, data from database system 310 may be queried for use in areport, or a recommendation may be provided by recommendation engine 312according to the consumer request and current market data. Theautomobile market information processing system 302 may integrate datareceived from consumer interface 304, dealer interface 306, andmanufacturer interface 308 to provide current and accurate informationrelating to the automobile market.

It should be appreciated that the consumer interface 304 may be specificto one particular manufacturer or may provide information for multipledifferent manufacturers. For example, a consumer interface 304 may be awebsite with information on many manufacturers, and further, theconsumer interface 304 may access or link to the manufacturer specificwebsites (e.g., Ford). Also, for example, a consumer interface 304 maybe implemented as an automobile manufacturer's website. Typically, amanufacturer's website may provide consumers with a catalog like featurethat provides information on different automobile models with anyavailable options or features. For example, a manufacturer website mayallow a consumer to select options that are desired to “build” aparticular automobile, and may provide price comparisons using suggestedretail prices, which may consumers use for initial research into whatpricing the dealer may offer for a particular automobile with aparticular feature set. Also, typically, the consumer may enterinformation, including, for example, name, an address or zip code, andtelephone number. This information may be passed on from themanufacturer to a nearby dealer and/or nearby dealer information may beprovided to the consumer (e.g., the dealer in or nearest to theconsumer's entered zip code). Accordingly, the dealer may contact theconsumer, or the consumer may inquire with the dealer, regarding thespecific automobiles available on that dealer's lot and particularpricing being offered, etc. In many cases, consumers may not inquirewith dealers that the manufacturer may recommend, and similarly, dealersmay not diligently follow up with consumers that have an interest inpurchasing an automobile. Further, it should be appreciated that theinformation provided via a consumer interface 304 and/or a manufacturerwebsite may be very useful to consumers. For example, in the past,dealers often provided brochures with all the information on amanufacturer's available car models, including all the features andoptions information. However, dealers typically do not providecomprehensive information brochures, which may be relatively expensiveto produce, and rather, that information is typically located on amanufacturer website and/or a consumer interface 304.

Accordingly, the consumer interface 304 may provide a wide range ofinformation, for example, based on any searches or queries performed bya user 114. In an example embodiment, based on a user search or requestfor a response, the consumer interface 304 will display a quality indexor value index based on normalized calculations for an automobile. Therecommendation engine 312 may provide recommendations to a consumerbased on the current automobile market data stored in the automobilemarket information processing system 302. For example, metrics on gasmileage, emissions, operating and maintenance costs, safety ratings,etc. may be benchmarked against comparable automobiles of the same anddifferent manufacturers. Similar purchase options to a specific searchmay also be provided, based on feature matching, price range, consumerpopularity, etc. Information including price ranges, including MSRP,invoice prices, inventory levels, the user's 114 credit ratings (e.g.,FICO score), may be provided which may include monthly payment estimatesor projections. For example, a financing calculator may help a user 114determine what financing rate is appropriate. It should be appreciatedthat dealers may mislead consumers into believing that a higherfinancing rate will be required to secure a loan. Further, for example,a lease vs. buy calculator may be provided which may use current marketdata including prices, interest rates, incentives, estimated mileage peryear, etc. for providing an analysis for a particular consumer regardingpurchasing or leasing. Also, the consumer interface 304 may provide apurchase checklist, for example, of ten steps to buying a car. Aqualitative checklist may allow a user to ask the right questions andget the right answers from a dealer. Additional tips may be provided,such as a list of products or services dealers may attempt to sell to aconsumer with an analysis of the value of these products or services anda recommendation to accept or decline these dealer offers. Further,beyond analysis relating to automobiles, additional analysis or reportsmay be provided, for example, relating to dealer reviews, othersupplemental products, financial entities that may provide financing,etc. For example, dealer reviews may provide a consumer with informationthe consumer may use in addition to automobile pricing and deliveryoptions. Moreover, the consumer interface 304 may provide a wide varietyof useful information to a consumer, for at home research andpreparation, and/or in a dealer location while shopping as a negotiatingtool that may provide confirmation on pricing, useful tips, and thelike.

In an example embodiment, a dealer interface 306 may provide a user 114,such as a dealer employee, information relating to the currentautomobile market. The dealer interface 306 allows a dealer to interactwith automobile market information processing system 302 to provide thedealer with a wide variety of information, including, for example,current market pricing. Other automobile market information a dealer mayreceive on a dealer interface 306 includes information relating to lotinventory, turnover rates, automobile transportation and/or shippingcosts, incentives, and various ratings, such as ratings relating toquality, safety, insurance, a consumer credit score, dealer ratings,residual or resale values, etc. A dealer may input information intodealer interface 306 relating to sales data, including current pricingoffered, special sales offers, actual transaction data, inventory data,etc. In an example embodiment, the dealer may provide informationthrough dealer interface 306 which will be used by automobile marketinformation processing system 302 to prepare reports or offers toconsumers and/or manufacturers. It should be appreciated that a dealeris typically a franchise entity, while a distribution location may notbe a franchise entity. For brevity, throughout this specification, theterm dealer may be used to describe both franchise entity dealers andnon-franchise entity distribution location. Accordingly, as used in thisdisclosure, the term dealer does not indicate whether an entity is afranchise entity. Moreover, a franchise dealer or a non-franchisedistribution location may utilize a dealer interface 306 as describedherein.

In an example embodiment, a manufacturer interface 308 may provide auser 114, such as a manufacturer employee, information relating to thecurrent automobile market, including consumer requests. For example, anmanufacturer interface 308 may provide a manufacturer a request receivedfrom a consumer interface 304. Additionally, the manufacturer interface308 may provide information such as a report that allows themanufacturer to provide a response to the requesting consumer. A reportmay include information from database system 310 relating to currentmarket pricing, recent sales figures and trends, current manufacturerincentives, current inventory, including dealer inventory, inventory intransit, and/or build times or lead times for a desired automobile, etc.The manufacturer may use this information to provide a response to aconsumer request. The manufacturer may provide the manufacturerinterface 308 with information to provide a confirmation, averification, or an offer to a consumer via consumer interface 304. Forexample, a confirmation number associated with the particular consumerrequest may be provided for the consumer. Also, a recommendation may beprovided from the recommendation engine 312 to the manufacturer inrelation to automobile pricing, responding to a specific request,manufacturer incentives, inventory management, production schedules,shipping schedules, etc. It should be appreciated that a manufacturermay be referred to as an OEM or original equipment manufacturer. Themanufacturer interface 308 may provide a manufacturer with a real-timelens into the automobile market which may allow the manufacturer toadjust production schedules, pricing plans, marketing activities, etc.,which may provide a significant advantage for manufacturers.

Accordingly, information may be provided to the automobile marketinformation processing system 302 from consumers, dealers, andmanufacturers with a very high degree of granularity, as everytransaction that occurs and even every request or search may be storedand used by the automobile market information processing system 302.This allows the automobile market information processing system 302 touse the most current automobile market data to provide information toconsumers, dealers, and manufacturers. It should be appreciated thatmarket prices can change relatively quickly, particularly when majorevents drive consumer behavior or manufacturer production, such asnatural disasters. Accordingly, reports and recommendations provided bythe automobile market information processing system 302 may be highlyaccurate, reliable, and sensitive to market changes.

It should be appreciated that certain functions described as performed,for example, at automobile market information processing system 302, mayinstead be performed locally at consumer interface 304, dealer interface306, and manufacturer interface 308, or vice versa. Further, in certaincases, tasks may be performed using consumer interface 304, dealerinterface 306, and manufacturer interface 308 or, for example, performedin person, such as a consumer signing documents at a dealer location, ora dealer communicating with a manufacturer using a telephone. It shouldbe appreciated that the consumer interface 304, dealer interface 306,and manufacturer interface 308 may be implemented, for example, in a webbrowser using an HTML file received from the automobile marketinformation processing system 302. In an example embodiment, theconsumer interface 304, dealer interface 306, and manufacturer interface308 may be located on a website, and may further be implemented as asecure website. Also, consumer interface 304, dealer interface 306, andmanufacturer interface 308 may require a local application, for example,which a manufacturer may pay for to have access to, for example,information from the automobile market information processing system 302such as requests from consumers.

FIGS. 4A and 4B include a flowchart of an example process 400 forfacilitating an automobile transaction. Although the process 400 isdescribed with reference to the flowchart illustrated in FIGS. 4A and4B, it will be appreciated that many other methods of performing theacts associated with the process 400 may be used. For example, the orderof many of the blocks may be changed, certain blocks may be combinedwith other blocks, and many of the blocks described are optional.

The example process 400 for facilitating an automobile transaction mayallow users 114, including manufacturers and consumers, as well asdealers, to efficiently sell and purchase automobiles, respectively. Theexample process 400 may begin with automobile market data including atleast pricing data and inventory data stored in a database system (block402). For example, automobile market data from manufacturers, dealers,and consumers regarding pricing, lot inventory, production scheduling,and shipment scheduling is collected and stored in a database. In anexample embodiment, a wide variety of data is stored in a databasesystem 310. Automobile market data may include various relevant ratings,reports, awards, or other information, including quality information,safety information, insurance information, consumer credit information,dealer rating information, incentive information, residual valueinformation, and/or any other data which may be relevant to consumers.For example, ratings data may include information from the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA), and/or the Insurance Institute for HighwaySafety (IIHS). The data may include information from a consumerinterface 304, such as data in consumer searches or requests,information from a dealer interface 306, such as currently offereddealer pricing, transaction data for finalized sales, current inventorydata, shipping costs, and information from a manufacturer interface 308,such as current manufacturer prices and suggested pricing, manufacturerincentives, and current inventory including finished inventory on hand,production scheduling, shipment scheduling, inventory in transit, andmanufacturing lead times. The automobile market data may be comprisedsolely of information received from the consumer interface 304, dealerinterface 306, and manufacturer interface 308, or may include additionalinformation received from other sources. It should be appreciated thatvarious methods of storing the automobile market data may be employedaccording to the system requirements. For example, database system 310may be organized according to different manufacturers, automobile makeand model, different information categories (e.g., suggested pricing,market prices, production, shipping, lot inventory), etc., and mayconsist of one or more databases on one or more servers 108, 226 whichmay be remotely located from each other and/or a host device 104 of theautomobile market information processing system 302. As will bediscussed further below, the automobile market data may be continuallyupdated as new data is provided to the automobile market informationprocessing system 302.

The example process 400 continues with a consumer providing a request toa manufacturer for a response of whether an automobile can be provided(block 404). For example, a car buyer fills in a request form on awebsite to receive a verification that a car can be produced ordelivered. In this example embodiment, the buyer's request may betransmitted from consumer interface 304 via the internet to theautomobile market information processing system 302. In another exampleembodiment, a car buyer may be located at a dealer location and take apicture of a vehicle identification number (VIN) on a car that the buyerwould like to receive information for. For example, using an applicationstored on a mobile device 103, the buyer may take a picture of the VINon a car. The buyer may want information on that specific car or onother comparable cars with the same or similar features and/or options.The picture of the VIN may be processed using optical characterrecognition, which allows the automobile market information processingsystem 302 to determine the make and model of the car, along withvarious other characteristics of the car. It should be appreciated thatthe VIN may include human readable characters, a bar code, or any othergraphical or machine readable information which acts as a vehicleidentification number. Accordingly, the buyer may perform research, forexample, while at home or while shopping at a dealer location. Further,for example, the buyer may take a picture of a VIN anywhere, includingat automobile trade shows, mall displays, or anywhere new cars or carsfor sale are displayed. The buyer may even take a picture of a carparked in the street as the buyer walks down the street. Any request orquery communicated from the consumer interface 304 may be stored, forexample, in database system 310, thereby updating the automobile marketinformation processing system 302 with current automobile market data.

The example process 400 may continue with providing automobile marketdata to a manufacturer based on the consumer request (block 406). Forexample, the car manufacturer receives a real-time report includinglocal car sales data, inventory data, car delivery data, and car buildtime data of the consumer's requested car. In an example embodiment, areport may include quality information, safety information, insuranceinformation, consumer credit information (e.g., buyer FICO score),dealer rating information, incentive information, residual valueinformation, and/or any other data which may be relevant to consumers.The report may be provided through manufacturer interface 308 andinclude the consumer requirements and preferences. The request and/orthe report may be provided in real-time and may provide real-time data.Data reported based on a real-time updates in the automobile marketinformation processing system 302 may provide significant advantages,for example, when pricing conditions may change quickly due tounforeseen market conditions. The recommendation engine 312 may providerecommendations to a manufacturer based on the current automobile marketdata. For example, a report may indicate various estimated salesprobabilities for different prices that a dealer may offer or bid, whichcan be very useful information for a manufacturer. In an exampleembodiment, a probability for a manufacturer or dealer to sell a certainlot of automobiles within a time frame may be provided. Such informationmay be illustrated in various ways, such as a bell curve graph or achart. Further, the recommendation engine may provide suggestionsregarding manufacturer incentives or other factors which affect theautomobile market. Manufacturers may use such information in makingimportant decisions, such as setting pricing, setting or modifyingproduction schedules, marketing directives, future product features andfocus, and the like. Also, in an example embodiment, the manufacturerinterface 308 may provide information that is limited to cars which meetthe consumer request requirements. The manufacturer may customize themanufacturer interface 308 to provide information in a pre-specifiedmanner to suit the manufacturers needs.

A manufacturer response is provided to the consumer indicating that theautomobile can be provided for the consumer (block 408). For example,the car maker provides a verification that a car can be produced,shipped, or is already in inventory based on current pricing data, carlocations, and build times for the subject car. The manufacturerinterface 308 may be used to communicate a verification, or aconfirmation or offer to a buyer. For example, a verification may statethat a particular car with specific features may be produced withinforty-five days if the buyer purchases that car and may provide aconfirmation number associated with the verification. In anotherexample, a particular car currently being shipped to New York may bere-routed to Illinois. The automobile market data may include, forexample, shipping costs that the manufacturer may use for determining ifan automobile should be re-routed. An offer to produce or ship aparticular car to a dealer location near a consumer may be authorizedthrough the manufacturer interface 308. In an example embodiment, theautomobile market information processing system 302 may bepre-authorized by a manufacturer to provide a confirmation of specificmodel with specific feature sets. A manufacturer may determine whetherit is profitable to produce a car from scratch based on the automobilemarket data such as current market pricing, current inventory levels,and the like. Accordingly, a manufacturer response may be adjusted bycurrent automobile market conditions. In an example embodiment, amanufacturer response may not require the use of manufacturer interface308, for example, a manufacturer may otherwise provide a consumer with averification, which may be provided by the consumer for use in theautomobile market information processing system 302. Any verification,confirmation, offer, and/or response communicated from a manufacturerinterface 308 may be stored, for example, in database system 310, tofurther update the automobile market information processing system 302with current automobile market data.

Then, a bid to sell the automobile to the consumer is requested fromdealers based on the manufacturer response (block 410). For example,several dealers provide bids based on the verification, current pricingdata, dealer pickup locations, and potential add-ons. Each dealer's bidmay include a price, for example, a price with no additional add-onproducts or services, such as service contracts, warranties, aftermarketaccessories, etc. For example, add-on products may provide substantialvalue to a dealer, above and beyond the profit margin for the sale ofthe requested car. A dealer may profit from selling financing options,for example, if a consumer needs financing, the financier may pay thedealer for sourcing the loan. A dealer may sell service plans ormaintenance packages (e.g., an extended service contract), sellingwarranties (e.g., a lifetime warranty), or selling insurance plans(e.g., life, accident, and health insurance, liability insurance,comprehensive insurance, etc.). Also, a dealer may also sell varioushard add accessories, for example, bicycle racks, hitches, commercialaccessories (e.g., lights and sirens), or any aftermarket products ormodifications (e.g., sunroof).

One or more dealer bids are provided to the consumer (block 412). Forexample, several dealers provide bids, so several different prices anddelivery options may be available to the car buyer. Typically, the bidwill include at least a specified price and pickup time and location.Typically, a pickup location will be a dealer lot or distributionlocation. In an example embodiment, a buyer that has taken a picture ofa VIN with a mobile device may receive dealer bids within minutes orseconds on the mobile device. Accordingly, the bids may be used inreal-time as the buyer may be actively shopping for a car on a dealerlot. It should be appreciated that some dealers may have multiplelocations which could serve as a pickup location. In an exampleembodiment, the automobile market data may indicate that the particularcar requested by a consumer should be priced at, for example, $26,000.However, various factors may affect the bid or offer that a dealer willmake for the particular car. For example, the potential for forming acustomer relationship, the value of potential add-on products andservices, or competition with other dealers may cause a dealer to bidlower than normal. In such a case, the dealer may bid $25,000 in aneffort to create a customer relationship, sell add-on products, and/orundercut the competition pricing. Other factors, such as the buyer'scredit score (e.g., FICO score), may be used by a dealer in determininga bid, as this may affect the profitability of a sale.

Further, for example, the particular automobile requested may not beavailable for immediate pickup near the buyer, and various alternativedelivery options may be provided from several dealers' bids. A car thatis in transit to an out of state dealer may be re-routed to a dealernear the buyer, or a new car may be built to the buyer's desiredspecifications and delivered to a dealer near the buyer. Therefore, forexample, the consumer interface 304 may provide several different bidswith different delivery options and prices to the buyer, for example, aprice of $26,000 to pick up the car at an out of state dealership thenext day, a price of $26,000 to pick up the car at a local dealer in twomonths, or a price of $26,500 to pick up the car at a local dealer infive days. For example, the costs of re-routing a car already inshipment may be factored into dealer bids. Inventoryless bidding may behighly beneficial when dealers that do not have a requested automobilein inventory can still profitably provide a bid. Further, for example,cars that are not exactly what the buyer requested may also be offeredto the buyer. For example, the buyer may request a four wheel drive car,but if a two wheel drive car that meets all the other buyer criteria isimmediately available at a nearby dealer, the dealer may provide anoffer to the buyer for this car, possibly at a significantly lowerprice, such as $23,000 instead of $26,000 for a four wheel drive car asrequested. Further, for example, dealers may use information such asratings data to optimize their bids. For example, if gasoline prices areincreasing, mileage ratings for a particular car may dictate increasingor decreasing a bid. If a vehicle has very good gas mileage, and gasprices are skyrocketing, that car may have an increasing demand as gasprices increase, or vice versa. Similarly, safety ratings of vehiclesmay be important to consumer demand if high profile problems haveappeared for a particular automobile style, make, or model. As discussedabove, various automobile market information may be used by a dealerincluding safety information, insurance information, consumer creditinformation, dealer rating information, incentive information, residualvalue information, and/or any other data which may be relevant toconsumers.

The consumer interface 304 may organize dealer bids based on a varietyof factors and may provide supplemental information. For example,certain dealer bids may be selected as the best options, all dealer bidsmay be summarized, various additional ratings, reviews, or popularityinformation, financing information, etc. may also be provided to aconsumer along with any dealer bids. The recommendation engine 312 mayprovide recommendations to a consumer based on the current automobilemarket data. For example, of ten dealer bids provided with a response,three bids may be recommended, for example, as “Great Deals!” It shouldbe appreciated that in some cases, a particular consumer search may notreturn any dealer bids, for example, if consumer search requirements areunrealistic for the consumer's required price range. Also, for example,if only one or two bids are received, the recommendation engine 312 mayrecommend that a consumer wait for a better bid because the bidsprovided are not competitive offers based on the current automobilemarket data stored in the database system 310. Further, in an exampleembodiment, dealer bids may be organized according to distance to adealer pickup location, lowest price, closest match to the consumerentered criteria, a normalized quality index or value index, etc. Theconsumer may be able to toggle between different viewing options fordealer bids or search results.

Further, in an example embodiment, a buyer may be at a dealer lot (e.g.,a Nissan dealer) and take a picture of a VIN on a car (e.g., a Maxima).A bid from a competing dealer (e.g., a Toyota dealer) across the streetmay be received on the mobile device within seconds and includeinformation for a comparable car (e.g., an Avalon) relating to, forexample, gas mileage, safety ratings, price comparisons, residual value,driving directions to the competing dealer, etc. In an exampleembodiment, a dealer may use the geolocation of the buyer, such as ininstances when the buyer is physically located close to the dealer.Accordingly, competing dealer bids may be interbrand or intrabrand innature, and may be tailored to the buyer's particular situation, which aconsumer may find highly advantageous. For example, the buyer may have abid for a car the buyer wants to test drive as well as a bid for acomparable car across the street before a salesman from the dealer evenintroduces himself. Accordingly, a consumer may weigh the pros and consof various dealer bids, based on delivery options, pricing, and anyother relevant variants. Any bids communicated from a dealer interface306 may be stored, for example, in database system 310, to furtherupdate the automobile market information processing system 302 withcurrent automobile market data.

The consumer selects a bid including a delivery option which specifies apickup location (block 414). For example, the car buyer chooses adelivery option of picking up the car at a nearby dealer in five days.As noted above, a dealer may be a franchise dealer entity or anon-franchise distribution location. The buyer may select an offer witha specified delivery option on the consumer interface 304. The car buyermay have been weighing two or more different delivery options and/ordifferent features, price differences, etc., based on the response(s)received through the consumer interface 304. As noted above, theconsumer interface 304 may organize bids and other helpful informationin a variety of ways, which may make the information easier for aconsumer to digest. It should be appreciated that a buyer will typicallywant to pick up a new car at a convenient location, often near thebuyer's home. Accordingly, dealers may attempt to provide deliveryoptions tailored towards maximizing profit for the dealer while alsomaximizing convenience to the buyer, while also providing a superior bidto other dealers. By providing multiple bids with different deliveryoptions, the buyer may be allowed to save time or money based on thebuyer's particular needs. In an example embodiment, the buyer mayprovide a counter offer or different request via the consumer interface304 to a dealer via the dealer interface 306. Accordingly, the dealermay respond in kind, and may update delivery options or other terms. Itshould be appreciated that the consumer selection of a bid may, forexample, occur simultaneously with the consumer executing the sale orproviding a deposit or down payment, or the like (see, e.g., block 418).Accordingly, in an example embodiment, once the buyer selects a bid, thebuyer has effectively purchased the car, and the dealer does need toworry about the buyer backing out of the deal. Any consumer selections,counter offers, or additional requests or responses may be stored indatabase system 310, as the communications are processed by automobilemarket information processing system 302, providing further dataupdates. Accordingly, in an example embodiment, a consumer may select abid to purchase a car, and that purchase information may then beprovided to another consumer searching for the same type of car withsimilar features, for example, the next day.

Once a bid with a specific delivery option has been selected, themanufacturer is instructed to provide the automobile to a dealeraccording to the consumer bid selection (block 416). For example, thecar maker is instructed to re-route a car already in transit to thedealer pickup location for delivery in less than five days. In anexample embodiment, the dealer may be required to send an instructionmessage from the dealer interface 306 to the manufacturer interface 308.It should be appreciated that the specific manner of instruction may bechanged based on the particular application, for example, the automobilemarket information processing system 302 may automatically provide aninstruction to a manufacturer to produce a car or re-route a car. Itshould also be appreciated that particular events may be required totrigger instructing a car to be delivered to a dealer, such as adeposit, financing approval, etc. Further, the consumer may be requiredto send an instruction message from the consumer interface 304 to themanufacturer interface 308 affirming that the buyer has agreed topurchase the car from the dealer.

The consumer and the dealer execute the sale of the automobile (block418). For example, the consumer electronically signs documentation suchas loan application and a contract and performs an electronic fundstransfer or credit card payment. After the delivery option is selected,an electronic contract may be provided by the manufacturer for the buyerwho may e-sign the contract, and/or any other loan applications or otherdocumentation as needed. In another example embodiment, paper copies ofa contract may be signed, for example, after the buyer prints them orreceives them from a nearby dealer or through the mail. In an exampleembodiment, the buyer may provide cash or a paper check. It should beappreciated that the process of executing a contract may take some time.For example, the process may occur in several steps, as loan processingmay be required prior to executing a contract for sale of a car. Also,it should be appreciated that, for example, the consumer selection of abid discussed above (see, e.g., block 414) may occur simultaneously withthe consumer executing the sale. Once the sale is completed, the actualtransaction data including the final negotiated price, may be providedto and stored in database system 310. Accordingly, the automobile marketinformation processing system 302 may be updated with current automobilemarket data from every step in the negotiation process between aconsumer and a manufacturer. In an example embodiment, the updatesprovided to the automobile market information processing system 302 areprovided in real-time, for example, data may be transmitted andprocessed within seconds or minutes. Further, for example, it should beappreciated that certain data may be provided to the automobile marketinformation processing system 302 according to a batch processingschedule.

Next, the manufacturer provides the dealer with the purchased automobileaccording to the consumer bid selection (block 420). For example, thecar maker re-routes a car en route to delivery at another dealer to thedealer pickup location selected by the car buyer or transports the cardirectly from the factory to the dealer pickup location. If a buyerchooses a quicker delivery option, the car may need to be re-routed froma different destination to the selected dealer pickup location. If abuyer does not urgently need to have a car, a new car may be built tothe buyer's exact specifications and delivered to the selected dealerpickup location. Also, for example, a purchased car may be already at adealer which the buyer has agreed to pick the car up, in which case, thecar does not need to be provided to the dealer. A dealer may interactwith the automobile market information processing system 302 usingdealer interface 306, for example, to receive notification that a carwill be picked up by a buyer, and to report that a car has beendelivered to the dealer. A notification may also be sent via consumerinterface 304 to the buyer that the car is available for pickup at thespecified dealer.

Finally, the consumer picks up the purchased automobile according to theconsumer selected delivery option at the dealer (block 422). Forexample, the car buyer picks up the car at the nearby dealer five daysafter the car sale is executed. The buyer may pick up the car withoutever having to talk to or negotiate, in person or over the telephone,with the dealer. For example, the buyer may arrive at the dealer, showidentification and proof of purchase, and be provided the keys to thecar. The buyer may sign paperwork indicating the car has been picked up.Also, the dealer may offer or provide additional products or services tothe buyer when the buyer goes to the dealer to pick up the car. Forexample, the dealer may offer financing options, warranties, serviceplans, insurance plans, and hard add accessories to the buyer, asdiscussed in further detail above.

Accordingly, it should be appreciated that manufacturers, consumers, anddealers may receive significant benefits from the method of facilitatingan automobile transaction disclosed herein. For example, productionscheduling, price setting, inventory management, may be greatly improvedfor manufacturers and dealers by utilizing the disclosed system andmethod. Consumers may benefit from more competitive pricing, piece ofmind knowing that a fair market price is being offered for prospectivepurchases, and improved delivery options that allow the consumer toweigh the benefits and drawbacks of different delivery options, pricing,and other variables. In an example embodiment, consumers can view pricespaid for comparable cars in specific locations based on the automobilemarket data in the automobile market information processing system 302,for example, within a certain time frame such as one month and within acertain proximity to the consumer. Moreover, various inefficiencies inthe automobile industry may be minimized utilizing the presentlydisclosed system and method.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an example data architecture 500.In the example data architecture 500, interface data 502, administrativedata 504, and automobile market data 506 interact with each other, forexample, based on user commands or requests. The interface data 502,administrative data 504, and automobile market data 506 may be stored onany suitable storage medium (e.g., server 226). It should be appreciatedthat different types of data may use different data formats, storagemechanisms, etc. Further, various applications may be associated withprocessing interface data 502, administrative data 504, and automobilemarket data 506. Various other or different types of data may beincluded in the example data architecture 500.

Interface data 502 may include input and output data of various kinds.For example, input data may include mouse click data, scrolling data,hover data, keyboard data, touch screen data, voice recognition data,etc., while output data may include image data, text data, video data,audio data, etc. Interface data 502 may include data relating toformatting, user interface options, links or access to other websites orapplications, and the like. Interface data 502 may include applicationsused to provide or monitor interface activities and handle input andoutput data.

Administrative data 504 may include data and applications regarding useraccounts. For example, administrative data 504 may include informationused for updating accounts, such as creating or modifying manufactureraccounts or dealer accounts. Further, administrative data 504 mayinclude access data and/or security data. Administrative data 504 mayinteract with interface data in various manners, providing a userinterface 304, 306, 308 with administrative features, such asimplementing a user login and the like.

Automobile market data 506 may include, for example, executed sales data508, consumer data 510, dealer data 512, manufacturer data 514,statistical data 516, and/or historical data 518. Executed sales data508 may include actual negotiated prices for manufacturer and dealersales, differences in list prices to negotiated prices, salesdemographics, etc. Consumer data 510 may include consumer searchactivity, consumer requests and offers, consumer feedback, etc. Dealerdata 512 may include dealer pricing, including list prices, sale pricesfor limited time dealer offers or deals of the day, negotiationinformation such as bottom line pricing, offers received, foot trafficactivity, and dealer inventory data, including current on location data,automobile turnover rates, etc. Manufacturer data 514 may includemanufacturer pricing, including suggested pricing, preferred dealerpricing, etc., manufacturer incentives including cash rebates, speciallease rates, special APR rates, zero down offers, lifetime warranties,guaranteed trade-in offers, etc., and inventory information includingdealer inventory, inventory by location, inventory in transit,manufacturing or production lead times or build times, productionscheduling, shipping scheduling, etc. Statistical data 516 may includeinformation used for providing reports including graphs, forecasts,recommendations, calculators, depreciation schedules, tax information,etc., including equations and other data used for statistical analysis.Historical data 508 may include past sales data, such as historical listprices, actual sale prices, manufacturer and dealer margins, operatingcosts, service costs or profitability, loyalty information, etc. Itshould be appreciated that data may fall under multiple categories ofautomobile market data 506, or change with the passage of time. Itshould also be appreciated that automobile market data 506 may betailored for a particular manufacturer or dealer, for example, amanufacturer may request that a specific type of data that is notnormally stored or used be stored in the database system 310.Accordingly, for example, customized reports may be provided to amanufacturer interface 308 using that specific data for themanufacturer.

The integration of the various types of automobile market data 506received from the consumer interface 304, dealer interface 306, andmanufacturer interface 308 may provide a synergistic and optimalresource for consumers, dealers, and manufacturers alike. In an exampleembodiment, a consumer may benefit greatly from using an application ina mobile device 103 to receive both intrabrand information andinterbrand information in real-time, based only on taking a picture ofVIN. Dealers and manufacturers may be able to provide information to theconsumer in a manner that highlights the benefits of the products therespective dealer or manufacturer would like to sell. The intrabrand andinterbrand information provided on a consumer interface 304 may allowthe best automobile options for a particular consumer to be provided tothat consumer, may allow manufacturers to better follow through withopportunities for sales, and may allow dealers to compete with otherdealers taking into account a greater amount of automobile marketinformation, all of which may result in a more efficient automobilemarket.

Automobile market data 506 may be maintained in various servers 108, indatabases or other files. It should be appreciated that, for example, ahost device 104 may manipulate automobile market data 506 in accordancewith the administrative data 504 and interface data 502 to providerequests or reports to users 114 including consumers, dealers, andmanufacturers, and perform other associated tasks. It should also beappreciated that automobile market data 506 represents automobile marketinformation, and that these terms may be used interchangeably in thisdisclosure depending upon the context.

FIG. 6 is flow diagram illustrating an example process 600 forfacilitating an automobile transaction, according to an exampleembodiment of the present invention. Although the process 600 isdescribed with reference to the flow diagram illustrated in FIG. 6, itwill be appreciated that many other methods of performing the actsassociated with the process 600 may be used. For example, the order ofmany of the blocks may be changed, certain blocks may be combined withother blocks, and many of the blocks described are optional.

In the example process 600, data may flow between the automobile marketinformation processing system 302 and a consumer interface 304, amanufacturer interface 308, and a dealer interface 306, as discussedabove based on consumer, manufacturer, and dealer interaction with theautomobile market information processing system 302. It should beappreciated that the automobile market information processing system 302may update the automobile market information stored in the databasesystem 310 when automobile market information is received from aconsumer, a dealer, or a manufacturer, or from any other informationsource. Accordingly, the automobile market information may remaincurrent and/or provide sufficiently recent data for the benefit ofconsumers, dealers, and/or manufacturers.

The example process 600 may begin with a consumer taking a picture of aVIN using a mobile phone application (block 602). The consumer interface304 may use OCR to determine and provide the VIN to the automobilemarket information processing system 302 to provide a consumer request(block 604). It should be appreciated that OCR may occur in theautomobile market information processing system 302 or at the consumerinterface 304. The automobile market information processing system 302receives the consumer request and prepares automobile market informationbased on the request (block 606). The automobile market informationprocessing system 302 may send the consumer request and automobilemarket information based on the consumer request to the manufacturerinterface 308 (block 608). It should be appreciated that while theconsumer request is automobile market information, typically, additionalautomobile market information would be provided with the consumerrequest. For example, typically, data relating to recent sales of therequested automobile and/or comparable automobiles may be provided. Inan example embodiment, a target price or “true” value of the requestedautomobile may be provided. The manufacturer receives the request,determines that an automobile can be provided and prepares and providesverification information for consumer and dealers (block 610). Amanufacturer response with the verification information may be providedfrom the manufacturer interface 308 to the automobile market informationprocessing system 302 (block 612). The automobile market informationprocessing system 302 receives and processes the manufacturer responsewith the verification and prepares and provides information for consumerand dealers (block 614). The manufacturer response with a verificationmay be sent from the automobile market information processing system 302to the consumer interface 304 (block 616). It should be appreciated thatother automobile market information may be provided to the consumerinterface 304 with a verification, for example, suggested pricing,ratings information, etc. The consumer interface 304 receives theverification that the automobile can be provided, for example, as aconfirmation message on the mobile device (block 618).

The automobile market information processing system 302 may also send tothe dealer interface 306 a bid request for one or more dealers (block620). One or more dealers receive a bid request, determine prices anddelivery options for the automobile, and prepare and provide bids forthe consumer (block 622). A dealer bid may be sent from the dealerinterface 306 to the automobile market information processing system 302for each dealer that wants to provide a bid (block 624). The automobilemarket information processing system 302 receives and processes dealerbids and prepares the bids and automobile market data for the consumer(block 626). The automobile market information processing system 302 maysend dealer bids and automobile market information to the consumerinterface 304 (block 628). It should be appreciated that automobilemarket information may be provided to the consumer before dealer bidsare provided, and/or concurrently with dealer bids. Also, it should beappreciated that blocks 616 and 628 may be combined, particularly if thedealer bidding process can occur quickly, for example, in real-time. Theconsumer may receive dealer bids based on the verification and select abid including a delivery option based on automobile market information(block 630). The consumer interface 304 may send to the automobilemarket information processing system 302 a selection of a bid indicatingthat the consumer wants to purchase or lease the automobile based on theselected bid (block 632). The automobile market information processingsystem 302 receives and processes the consumer bid selection (block634). For example, the automobile market information processing system302 may send the bid selection to the dealer interface 306 (block 636).The dealer may receive the bid selection and coordinate a sale by, forexample, instructing the manufacturer to produce and ship the automobileto the dealer location for delivery to the consumer (block 638). Also,for example, the dealer may provide contract or loan documents, collecta deposit or down payment, or the like. As discussed above, in each ofblocks 606, 614, 626, and 634, the automobile market informationprocessing system 302 may update the automobile market information inthe database system 310 based on the information received from theconsumer, dealer, and/or manufacturer.

For exemplary purposes, the present disclosure discusses a variousexamples relating to a purchase of a car. However, it should beappreciated that the disclosed system, methods, and apparatus may beadvantageously used in relation to various automobiles other than carsincluding, for example, trucks, vans, sport utility vehicles, jeeps,motorcycles, commercial vehicles, and/or automobiles that have a VIN andrequire a license plate to operate.

It will be appreciated that all of the disclosed methods and proceduresdescribed herein can be implemented using one or more computer programsor components. These components may be provided as a series of computerinstructions on any conventional computer-readable medium, includingRAM, ROM, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks, optical memory, orother storage media. The instructions may be configured to be executedby a processor, which when executing the series of computer instructionsperforms or facilitates the performance of all or part of the disclosedmethods and procedures.

Further, it will be appreciated that the presently disclosed system,methods, and apparatus for performing automobile transactions may beutilized in conjunction with other systems or methods. For example, thepresently disclosed system, methods, and apparatus may be used inconjunction with the disclosure in the co-pending commonly-owned patentapplication filed on Jul. 5, 2011, entitled “AUTOMOBILE TRANSACTIONFACILITATION BASED ON CUSTOMER SELECTION OF A SPECIFIC AUTOMOBILE,”application Ser. No. 13/176,525, the entire contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference herein, and in an example embodiment, thefeatures of which may be combined with the features of the presentdisclosure.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to theexample embodiments described herein will be apparent to those skilledin the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and withoutdiminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that suchchanges and modifications be covered by the appended claims.

The invention is claimed as follows:
 1. A method comprising: receiving,via a consumer interface, a first request for a response regarding afirst automobile, which is manufactured by a first manufacturer, thefirst request made by a consumer located at a first location andincluding geolocation information of the consumer; executinginstructions, by at least one processing device, to: determine currentinventory data of the first automobile, wherein the current inventorydata of the first automobile includes a plurality of dealer inventoriesof a plurality of dealers, with each respective dealer of the pluralityof dealers having a respective dealer inventory; provide the currentinventory data of the first automobile to the first manufacturer, basedon the first request, via a manufacturer interface; generate, based onthe current inventory data of the first automobile, via the manufacturerinterface, at least one of a verification indicating that the firstautomobile can be provided for the consumer, a confirmation indicatingthat the first automobile can be provided for the consumer, and an offerindicating that the first automobile can be provided for the consumer;determine, based on the geolocation information, that the consumer islocated at the first location; generate, based on the first location, anin-market dealer area proximately located to the first location;determine that at least a first dealer is located within the in-marketdealer area, the first dealer located at a second location; provide afirst manufacturer response via the consumer interface, the firstmanufacturer response including the at least one of the verificationindicating that the first automobile can be provided for the consumer,the confirmation indicating that the first automobile can be providedfor the consumer, and the offer indicating that the first automobile canbe provided for the consumer; request, from the first dealer, via adealer interface, a bid to sell the first automobile based on the firstmanufacturer response; receive, from the first dealer located at thesecond location, the bid to provide the first automobile; generatedriving directions from the first location to the second location; andprovide the bid and the driving directions to the consumer interface,the bid including at least a price and a delivery option.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the current inventory data includes at least one ofinventory data by location, inventory in transit data, production leadtime data, production schedule data, and shipping schedule data.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first request is made by a consumer on awebsite using a request form including at least one of a text box and adrop down list.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request ismade by a consumer using a mobile device which takes a picture of avehicle identification number.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein thevehicle identification number is recognized using optical characterrecognition.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first automobile isone of a particular type of car with a specific set of features and aparticular car with a specific vehicle identification number.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising providing first automobile marketdata to the first manufacturer including a suggested bid price.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the first automobile market data is based onreal-time automobile market data.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: executing instructions, by the at least one processingdevice, to process the consumer selection of the bid to facilitate:instructing the first manufacturer to provide the first automobile tothe first dealer based on a consumer selection of the bid; and executinga sale, including at least one of providing for electronic signature ofdocuments and providing for an electronic funds transfer.
 10. The methodof claim 1, wherein the manufacturer interface allows a manufacturer toat least one of request data via the consumer interface from a pluralityof consumers and request data via the dealer interface from a pluralityof dealers.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first dealer at leastone of provides and offers at least one of a financing plan, a serviceplan, an insurance plan, a warranty, and a hard add accessory, for atleast the first automobile.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstdealer is at least one of a franchise dealer and a non-franchisedistribution location.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstmanufacturer response includes an acknowledgement of interest.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first automobile is yet to bemanufactured at the time the bid is received from the first dealer. 15.The method of claim 1, wherein the first automobile is in the inventoryof an entity other than the first dealer at the time the bid is receivedfrom the first dealer.
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprisingreceiving a consumer selection of the bid including a first deliveryoption which specifies a pickup location at the first dealer, and thefirst automobile is made available for pickup at the first dealer. 17.The method of claim 1, wherein the consumer selection of the bidindicates a consumer intention to purchase the first automobile.
 18. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the consumer selection of the bid indicates aconsumer intention to lease the first automobile.
 19. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the bid includes a first price corresponding to a firstdelivery option and a second price corresponding to a second deliveryoption.
 20. The method of claim 1, further comprising executinginstructions, by the at least one processing device, to: request, from asecond dealer located at a third location within the in-market dealerarea, a second bid to sell the first automobile based on the firstmanufacturer response; receive, from the second dealer, the second bidto sell the first automobile based on the first manufacturer response;generate second driving directions from the first location to the thirdlocation; and provide the second bid and the second driving directionsto the consumer interface, the second bid including at least a secondprice and a second delivery option.
 21. A system comprising: a computerreadable medium storing instructions; and at least one processing deviceoperably coupled to the computer readable medium, the at least oneprocessing device executing the instructions to: receive, via a consumerinterface, a first request for a response regarding a first automobile,which is manufactured by a first manufacturer, the first request made bya consumer located at a first location and including geolocationinformation of the consumer; determine current inventory data of thefirst automobile, wherein the current inventory data of the firstautomobile includes a plurality of dealer inventories of a plurality ofdealers, with each respective dealer of the plurality of dealers havinga respective dealer inventory; provide the current inventory data of thefirst automobile to the first manufacturer, based on the first request,via a manufacturer interface; generate, based on the current inventorydata of the first automobile, via the manufacturer interface, at leastone of a verification indicating that the first automobile can beprovided for the consumer, a confirmation indicating that the firstautomobile can be provided for the consumer, and an offer indicatingthat the first automobile can be provided for the consumer; determine,based on the geolocation information, that the consumer is located atthe first location; generate, based on the first location, an in-marketdealer area proximately located to the first location; determine that atleast a first dealer is located within the in-market dealer area, thefirst dealer located at a second location; provide a first manufacturerresponse via the consumer interface, the first manufacturer responseincluding the at least one of the verification indicating that the firstautomobile can be provided for the consumer, the confirmation indicatingthat the first automobile can be provided for the consumer, and theoffer indicating that the first automobile can be provided for theconsumer; request, from the first dealer, via a dealer interface, a bidto sell the first automobile based on the first manufacturer response;receive, from the first dealer located at the second location, the bidto provide the first automobile; generate driving directions from thefirst location to the second location; and provide the bid and thedriving directions via the consumer interface, the bid including atleast a price and a delivery option.
 22. A non-transitory computerreadable medium storing software instructions which, when executed,cause an information processing apparatus to: receive, via a consumerinterface, a first request for a response regarding a first automobile,which is manufactured by a first manufacturer, the first request made bya consumer located at a first location and including geolocationinformation of the consumer; determine current inventory data of thefirst automobile, wherein the current inventory data of the firstautomobile includes a plurality of dealer inventories of a plurality ofdealers, with each respective dealer of the plurality of dealers havinga respective dealer inventory; provide the current inventory data of thefirst automobile to the first manufacturer, based on the first request,via a manufacturer interface; generate, based on the current inventorydata of the first automobile, via the manufacturer interface, at leastone of a verification indicating that the first automobile can beprovided for the consumer, a confirmation indicating that the firstautomobile can be provided for the consumer, and an offer indicatingthat the first automobile can be provided for the consumer; determine,based on the geolocation information, that the consumer is located atthe first location; generate, based on the first location, an in-marketdealer area proximately located to the first location; determine that atleast a first dealer is located within the in-market dealer area, thefirst dealer located at a second location; provide a first manufacturerresponse via the consumer interface, the first manufacturer responseincluding the at least one of the verification indicating that the firstautomobile can be provided for the consumer, the confirmation indicatingthat the first automobile can be provided for the consumer, and theoffer indicating that the first automobile can be provided for theconsumer; request, from the first dealer, via a dealer interface, a bidto sell the first automobile based on the first manufacturer response;receive, from the first dealer located at the second location, the bidto provide the first automobile; generate driving directions from thefirst location to the second location; and provide the bid and thedriving directions via the consumer interface, the bid including atleast a price and a delivery option.